Listening To Music And Composing Essay Example for Free

Listening To Music And Composing Essay Listening to music and composing my own digital music is my favorite extra-curricular activity. Music makes me feel refreshed and even after a hectic day at work, five minutes of good music helps me relax my nerves instantly. The routine lifestyle rarely leaves much time for my extra-curricular activity. However, I always make sure to maintain a rich music library on my laptop as well as handheld devices so that I can listen to it whenever I feel. Moreover, I am also into composing music. I am a vocalist, I play the piano and I have a digital mixing console also. My room is a mini studio where I can record my own music. Composing new music or mixing up tracks requires utmost creativity and imagination. In a month, I make sure to publish three mixes after recording and digital reworking. When music is your extracurricular activity, the best part about it is that you can enjoy it indoors. Whatever the weather and climate outside, you can always be comfortable and enjoy it in your room. If you have a dolby surround system in your home, it would serve as the best way to listen to music. Playing a musical instrument is a bliss in itself. Whenever I play the piano, I feel connected to the nature and its energies. That is when your creativity blossoms and you can use your imagination to the fullest in composing new tunes. The best way to enjoy music is to relax on a couch or the bed with the earphones plugged in your ears and listening to it with closed eyes. You can then feel each instrument as it plays. Some people prefer loud music, but it isn’t always enjoyable. Dance music is ok when it comes to parties but it cannot be enjoyed always and when one is seeking relaxation.

Identifying Bacterial Growth

Identifying Bacterial Growth Introduction: This experiment was about isolating a single bacterial colony from a soil sample and identifying which genus it belongs in. This is especially important for functions such as agriculture, as knowing whether a specific soil has a high concentration of nutrient producing bacterium is essential to being able to harvest good crops. Another key component of soil bacterium, is that they tend to be high in nutrient recycling organisms. As well there tends to be a high number of varying phylum in soil bacterium that was previously unknown, as in 2003 Joseph et al. managed to isolate 350 different bacterium which were assigned into 9 different phyla. As well approximately 27% of the isolated bacterium belonged to unnamed families, and were located in very poorly studied phyla. (Joseph et al. 2003) Methods: The experiment began by subculturing a bacterial colony identified from a myriad of soil bacterium isolated in an agar plate. Then this bacterial colony was observed through a microscope, as well as tested for whether it was gram positive or gram negative. Then the bacterium was re-cultured into varying solutions to test for specific nutrient use. First it was subcultured onto an agar plate rich in starch, incubated, and tested for starch hydrolysis via the use of lugols iodine, to see if there was starch remaining in the area of the bacterial colony. Then a deep rich in sulfur was inoculated with the bacterium, and observed for whether motility was displayed, or whether hydrogen sulphide was produced. Then the bacterium was inoculated in a peptone broth, to test for production of ammonia, through the addition of Nesslers Reagent, an ammonium sulphate broth and a nitrite broth, to test for the ability to nitrify compounds using Nesslers reagent; Trommdorfs Reagent; diphenylamine; and Sulfuric acid, and a nitrate broth to test for the ability to denitrify compounds using indicated reagents. Then the bacterium was placed into a thioglycollate medium to test the oxygen tolerance of the bacterium. Next the bacterium was subcultured onto a normal agar plate, to test for the presence of catalase and oxidase. Finally the bacterium was subcultured on plates with varying NaCl concentrations, and inoculated in tubes of varying pHs and tubes with varying temperatures. (Robertson and Egger, 2010) Results: In this lab our obtained data was collected and summarized (Table 1). This was then used to obtain a possible bacteria genera from the collected data, based on a text of classifications. These include references for whether a microbe genera happens to have a specific enzyme, to which types of electron donors it utilizes throughout its ATP production phase, be it in oxidative phosphorylation, or substrate level phosphorylation, or even a form of fermentation. The information gathered in table in is well correlated in the assigned manual, and is indicative of the genera Bacillus, which is known for its Rod-like shape, and the ability of this specific genera to grow across a vast array of nutrient types. (Sneath, 1986) Other indicators of this particular Genus, are that Bacilli tend to grow most predominantly within a temperature range characterized by mesophilic organisms, and have a wide range of osmotic pressure, or salt concentration tolerances. Another indicator of the bacillus genera, is the fact that this unknown bacteria tested positive on the gram test, as most members of the bacillus genera are gram-positive bacteria. Discussion: The bacterium is of the genus bacillus, because of the fact that it fits into the category of being able to survive in most conditions. (Sneath, 1986) The main characteristics that helped identify this bacterium were the fact that it is gram positive, that it is rod-shaped, and the determination through chemical testing that it can utilize multiple nutrient types to grow, and reproduce. These characteristics pointed definitively to the bacterium bacillus, and further investigation revealed them to most likely be either Bacillus cereus, or Bacillus licheniformis. These bacterium share almost all in common with the isolated bacterium in terms of chemical use, and similar makeup. This bacterium could have been further identified through other tests, such as looking for other enzymes that may be present, and performing tests to determine the exact makeup of the cell wall. The other tests that could be performed, could be to detect for the presence of chemicals known to be associated with fermentation, such as lactic acid. The limitations of the tests which were performed, are that they tend to test for the same type of thing. For example if something tests positive for nitrification, they may not test positive for ammonification because it is all converted straight to a nitrate form. The Bacillus strain plays many varied roles in nature, based on its vast adaptability, and the variance of locations it is found in. For example, it ranges from living in soil, to water, from animals, to plants. The Bacillus is even found in a pathogenic form, as Bacillus anthracis in humans, and in multiple forms in insects and animals. (Sneath, 1986) This means that the Bacillus anthracis strain is of a particular interest to scientists, as it is a reason to research antibiotics, as well as a reason to investigate different strains of this bacterium to see what other pathogenic roles this bacterium can cause in living creatures. This lab contains many possible sources of error, the main one being cross contamination. As the bacterium was recultured so many times, each time represents a possible instance where another bacterium was added to the mix, or substituted for the bacterium being isolated. Also during testing different bacteriums could have been picked up and added to the testing which could have caused a shift in results, or an increase in the range a specific result is in. Another source of error, is that there was what appeared to be a subculture of yeast intermixed with one of the bacterium subcultures obtained during testing. As this yeast subculture was at one time located on the same plate as the bacterium which was isolated and tested for, it could have also been located in our sample throwing our specific results off. These specific errors could inevitably cause the data gathered to point to the wrong bacterium genus and lead to misclassification. This could be corrected for by taking multipl e subcultures of the bacterium, and observing each subculture carefully to determine if there is any presence of different bacterial strains. In the end, the objectives of this experiment were properly met, as a bacterial sample was subcultured from a soil sample, and the bacterium was adequately identified via a myriad of tests and procedures. Since these objectives were met the experiment could be considered to be successful, especially as it taught me about different subculturing techniques as well as the methods that a microbiologist uses to determine bacterial identity. Literature Cited: Joseph, S.J., Hugenholtz, P., Sangwan, P., Osborne, C. A., Janssen, P. H. (2003) Laboratory Cultivation of Widespread and Previously Uncultured Soil Bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 69: 7210-7215 Robertson, S., Egger, K. (2010) Identification of Soil Bacteria. Biology 203 Microbiology Lab Manual. 4-33 Sneath, P. H. A. Ed. Bergeys Manual of Systematic Bacteriology Volume 2. 1986. Lipincott, Williams, Wilkins. Baltimore, Maryland.

Concept of Easy War

Concept of Easy War Key Judgments Easy War, the conception that war has minimal impact on Western states and their citizens, provides a useful analytical framework in order to critique and study how Western states become involved in military conflicts. In using this framework, it is understood that the over reliance on technologically advanced military capabilities, and omission of serious review of military doctrine, will lead to Western militaries continuing reliance on methods that make wars Easy due to allowing the state to easily become involved in conflict. However, easy war overlooks that while it is easier for states to commit to conflict, the burdens on citizens have not all but disappeared, but have intensified in certain cases or The concept of easy war revolves around the ability of Western states to sell the idea of waging war to its citizens due to its minimal impacts on them, thereby increasing the ability of Western states to commit war by limiting domestic opposition to it. The ability to commit to and persuade the public that an impending conflict is an easy war largely functions on the basis of the revolution in military affairs (RMA) that developed in the 1980s, culminating in the 1991 Gulf War, and continuing throughout the 1990s. The success that Western militaries have had from these the wars of the 1990s has led to a cognitive dissonance associated with current military capabilities and doctrine, whereby many strategic thinkers and policymakers ignore the failures in these wars and believe that because their militaries are technologically superior, victory is certain and cheap. While there is some truth to the precepts of Easy War, by and large citizens are still affected in significant ways, but changes in how Western states conduct warfare has changed how they are affected and increased how critical citizens are to certain variables. The repercussions of the United States (US) wars shows the fallacy of easy war when taking into account: decreased spending on infrastructure and social programs, massive national debt, ambiguity about the righteous cause of its actions, and an increased sensitivity to causalities in war. Introduction The success of military operations by Western states throughout the 1990s has led to a reliance on the use of technology and concepts of RMA whereby governments can sell war to its citizens as easy. The ability to sell a war as easy to a states population is a result of the systemic change in how Western states organize their military, technological advances, and society interacts with the military. Due in large part to the overwhelming victory in the 1991 Gulf War, many policy makers incorrectly believed that advancements in military technology would allow Western states to ignore the supremacy of politics in war and win with overwhelming force.[1] It took until the invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq that convinced Western states that technology does not always mean victory when you have to acknowledge the politics of the situation. However, there remains a risk that Western states will not learn from these wars, but rather remain committed to easy war with the us e of air and sea power as a means to limit costs and lives. In such an event, there would be little to no chance of true success or resolution to these conflicts. Easy war has two problems that must be addressed. The first problem is that military advancements and change means citizens are not adversely affected by the war and can be sold to them as easy of cost, conscious, and effort.[2] Second, subordinate to Western ways of war making it easy on citizens, the reduced impact on citizens then limits or removes a significant amount of public pressure on the government when seeking to enter into a conflict, thus allowing Western states greater freedom to conduct war. Background Easy war is described by Paul Starr as a war that is easy in the sacrifices it demands of us, easy on our consciences, easy on our pocketbooks.[3] The primary attributes of easy war include: not having to face the adverse effects of mass mobilization, rationing, increased taxes or economic burden, rationing, few causalities, and being guaranteed of our righteous cause while still minimizing civilian deaths.[4] All of these variables are then sold to the public to show that the government not only should conduct war, but that the state is so effective that the citizenry can go about their lives without a worry, knowing that their government is doing good abroad. Easy war is contrasted with the major wars of the 20th century; largely that of the total war environments of World War 1 and World War 2 where citizens had to make significant sacrifices for the good of the country and to ensure full effort by the state in these conflicts.[5] Easy war is a result of the obsession in RMA that emerged from the 1991 Gulf War and Post-Gulf War where the primary military technological innovations were in the areas of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); advanced command, control, communications computer applications, and intelligence processing (C4I); and precision fire.[6]ÂÂ   The result of these advancements in military technology meant that the fog of war became easier to overcome, that communication between all levels of the military became quicker, and that targets could be hit with pinpoint accuracy from safe distances.[7]ÂÂ   With the overwhelming victory that these advancements helped to achieve in the 1991 Gulf War caused the belief that focusing purely on advancing military technology would not only ensure that the US and Western states would have dominance in war, but that adversaries would not even threaten the West.[8] The culmination of this thinking led to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Iraq in particular was described and sold as being an easy war where the US military would be in and out of Iraq in 90 days, but these conflicts overlooked that military hardware is not everything.[9]ÂÂ   These wars ignored what some strategists argued that military preeminence without an appropriate strategy to shape and utilize it is both dangerous and fleeting.[10] The result of ignoring the strategy to understand the political components of warfare led to protracted and costly wars that were in no way the easy wars the public was sold on. Substantiation Although the critiques on the Western ways of easy war are well founded and offer good critiques, it broadly overlooks the changing landscape of warfare in general and its overall effects on the state and its citizens.Western states have done away with some of the major mechanisms to support states in conflict that disproportionately affects citizens, ie mass mobilization, rationing, drafts, but these are not the only ways that citizens can be affected. These mechanisms are equated with and closely tied to total war, which is not the dominant type of warfare in the 21st century. Rather, warfare for Western states in the 21st century has thus far been largely focused on addressing asymmetric and unconventional threats. To face these new threats Western states have relied upon technology in order to avoid the costs of total war, but with these methods come with new costs of non-traditional war. While Western states sell the public on minimal costs of wars, this is no such thing as cost free. By August 2016 the total costs of the US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria have amounted to $4.79 trillion.[11] Complicating this further is that most of these costs add to the US debt. Interest costs from this debt will at least be $7.9 trillion as a result of these wars, which has been shown to have directly affected the ability of the US to in infrastructure and tens of thousands of jobs.[12]ÂÂ   Comparatively, the cost of the US involvement in the NATO intervention in Libya cost approximately $1.1 billion.[13] Though this shows that a reliance on air power alone, and working with NATO allies, can significantly lower the costs of war, it is by no means free and was only possible due to NATO supporting rebel forces on the ground in Libya. Second to cost, but no less important or severe, is that there are no such thing as bloodless wars and Western states must recognize there are human costs to every war. Despite promises of minimal loss of life that is associated with selling easy war, causalities in Iraq and Afghanistan were in no way low. US military casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq from initial invasion up to March 3rd 2017 have amounted to 6,766.[14] Compared to the total wars of WW1 and WW2, this seems minor, though in the age of professional and small Western militaries, causalities are more significant. A possible result of this as the public becomes accustomed to limited or no casualties, the public will become hyper-sensitive and less accepting of deaths, thus providing a public pressure on the state to not seek war. In addition, what must be accounted for are the short and long term effects on civilians. In its intervention of Libya, NATO had no casualties and limited civilian casualties to 72 deaths.[15] However, the intervention directly led to Libyas current Civil War that has caused over half a million people to flee the country, ongoing fighting, and the Islamic State to gain a foothold in the country.[16] Once it is recognized that there are serious costs in war, it must be acknowledged that the advancements in military technology does not replace strategy or replace diplomacy and political settlement. These facts were once again overlooked in Western states involvement in Libya and currently in Iraq/Syria where the focus is to bomb first and consider the political repercussions afterwards. While Western states may no longer view that a state can be rebuilt in 90 days, there still remains an overall lack of attention to politics. General H.R. McMaster succinctly stated: Be skeptical of concepts that divorce war from its political nature, particularly those that promise fast, cheap victory through technology.[17] Not only are politics essential to avoiding and ending conflict, but can minimize the intensity of the conflict by addressing grievances of communities.[18] Ultimately, even when addressing the political situations of emerging conflicts is essential to the resolution of unconv entional conflicts; Western states will continue to struggle with unconventional enemies in their effort to reconcile its Western values while meeting its security needs. Outlook Despite the heavy investments and advancements in military technology to achieve it, there is no such thing as an easy war. War remains a costly, deadly, and complex affair that requires the recognition that technology cannot solve everything. The cognitive dissonance of this fact whereby Western states are ignoring politics and diplomacy to pursue war to solve complex political problems is evident from conflicts more than from the past five years, but since 2001. More recently, from Libya to Syria, Western states still believe in easy war, but the public is finding this less and less persuasive. As the public increasingly becomes critical of the heavy debt and costs of war, the impact on lives, and the moral ambiguity associated with being involved in such wars, governments will no longer be able to persuasively argue that a war is easy. References Casualty Status. United States Department of Defense. March 03, 2017. Civil War in Libya. Council on Foreign Relations. Accessed March 01, 2017. CNN Wire Staff. CNN Fact Check: Comparing costs of Iraq, Libya missions. CNN. Accessed March 01, 2017. Crawford, Neta C. US Budgetary Costs of Wars through 2016: $4.79 Trillion and Counting Summary of Costs of the US Wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan and Homeland Security. Costs of War, September 2016. Mcmaster, H. R. The Pipe Dream of Easy War. The New York Times. July 20, 2013. Accessed March 01, 2017. Owens, William A. The Emerging U.S. System-of-Systems. National Defense University Strategic Forum, Institute for National Strategic Studies, No. 63, February 1996. Starr, Paul. The Easy War. The American Prospect. Accessed March 01, 2017. Unacknowledged Deaths: Civilian Casualties in NATOs Air Campaign in Libya. Human Rights Watch. October 19, 2015. Accessed March 02, 2017. [1] H. R. Mcmaster, The Pipe Dream of Easy War, The New York Times, July 20, 2013, accessed March 01, 2017. [2] System of systems [3] Paul Starr, The Easy War, The American Prospect, accessed March 01, 2017. [4] Ibid. [5] Ibid. [6] Owens, William A., The Emerging U.S. System-of-Systems, National Defense University Strategic Forum, Institute for National Strategic Studies, No. 63, February 1996, p. 1-2. [7] Ibid. [8] H. R. Mcmaster, The Pipe Dream of Easy War, The New York Times, July 20, 2013, accessed March 01, 2017. [9] Paul Starr, The Easy War, The American Prospect, accessed March 01, 2017. [10] Strategy and RMA page 2 [11] Neta C. Crawford, US Budgetary Costs of Wars through 2016, Costs of War, September 2016. [12] Ibid. [13] CNN Wire Staff, CNN Fact Check: Comparing costs of Iraq, Libya missions, CNN, accessed March 01, 2017. [14] Casualty Status, United States Department of Defense, March 03, 2017. [15] Unacknowledged Deaths, Human Rights Watch, October 19, 2015, accessed March 02, 2017. [16] Civil War in Libya, Council on Foreign Relations, accessed March 01, 2017. [17] H. R. Mcmaster, The Pipe Dream of Easy War, The New York Times, July 20, 2013, accessed March 01, 2017. [18] Ibid.

Justice Essay -- essays research papers

Justice When the question is asked "Can we live in a just world?" In effect it is asking us a variety of things. "Can there be justice for all?" and "Can there be equality for all people?". The answer to this question is no. Unfortunately we live in a world where justice has never really transpired. The first justice that I would like to speak about is personal justice. Blessed are those reared in a household innocence of the deadly sin of envy. Their lives will be tormented by a grinding resentment that they are not beautiful, or famous, or favored with gifts of fortune. They will not demand as a natural right or an entitlement of personal equality with everybody under the sun; nor maintain that their opinions are as good as anybody else's. They will not covet a neighbors' goods. And thus they may come to know peace of soul. The injustice of equality 10/15/93 The point of this statement is not to say that envy makes equality. When we wish for "personal equality" with people, we wish to deny what we really are and allow for superficialness. We become so obsessed with our possessions that we forget who we are and the beauty of our differences. Aristole said that "it is unjust to treat unequal things equally". All people are different, that is exactly what makes us human, so when we treat people entirely the same, we deny their identity. For example that does not mean that I should not treat all people with respect, but I fee...

Acid Rain :: Free Essay Writer

Acid Rain   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As the century past, the industrial society kept advancing. However, many advantages of the industrial society brings us also has a down side. One of the adverse effects of industrialization is acid deposition due to power plant, fossil fuel and automobile emissions. Acid rain is the popular term but the scientists prefer the term acid deposition. Acid rain can have adverse effects on the environment by damaging forests or by lowering the pH of the lakes and making the water too acidic for many aquatic plants and animals to live.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The father of acid rain research is an Englishman named Charles Angus Smith who suggested in, 1852, that sulfuric acid in Manchester, English, was causing metal to rust and dyed goods to fade. One source that causes acid rain are fossil fuel. Fossil fuel has many usage in our society. Such as to power electric power plants, industrial boilers, smelters, businesses, schools, homes and vehicles of all sort. These various energy sources contribute 23.1 million tons of sulfur dioxide and 20.5 million tons of nitrogen oxides to our atmosphere worldwide. When fossil fuels are ignited like oil and coal, they release carbon dioxide, a so-called greenhouse gas that traps heat within the earth's atmosphere which causes global warming that is taking place right now. Also, it releases sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and various metals (mercury, aluminum) that are released into the atmosphere that reacts with other airborne chemicals (water vapor and sunlight) to produce sulfuric and nitric acid which later can be carried long distance from their source and be deposited as rain (acid rain) but acid doesn't just came from rain but also in the forms of snow, hail, fog, and mist. Forests are a complex ecosystems that involves trees, soil, water, the air, climate and other living organisms that support the community of wildlife: animals, birds, insects and plants and also a major economic resource. The countries hardest effected by acid rain is in the European countries, yet central Europe face a much greater threat since it has a large amount of forest area and about 8% of German's forest face the lethal effect of Waldsterben or forest death of acid rain. Acid rain kill about 50 million hectares of forest that have been damaged in Europe and in Central and Eastern Europe's thousands of tons of pollution each year that 14,000 lakes are unable to support sensitive aquatic life. Acid rain does not kill trees outright but weakens them to the point where they become susceptible to extremes of heat or cold, attacks from blight-causing or from inserts such as the gypsy moth, and

How does Steinbeck make use of the natural setting in of mice and men Essay

The Brush by the Salinas River is one of the most important locations in the entire novel. Steinbeck creates a beautiful and natural setting by his use of figurative language. â€Å"Willows fresh and green with every spring† and â€Å"leaves lie deep and so crisp† create an image in the mind of the reader that evokes a calm and peaceful mood. Steinbeck then uses the setting to introduce the two main protagonists. The arrival of the protagonists interrupts the harmony of the river bank, but before any sign of them is visible or within earshot, the birds fly away, the rabbits scatter, and all the other animals flee the area. This lets us know that something or someone is coming. Steinbeck introduces to the two main protagonists. They are the described identically but it is not until Steinbeck describes their different features that we learn their differences .We don’t know their names until the dialogue starts. Through their dialogue we learn that the larger man is Lennie and the smaller man is George. Both physically and character wise, George and Lennie are completely different, almost exact opposites. Lennie is not very bright, and acts like a big baby. He likes to pet soft things, he throws tantrums once in a while, and when he senses his advantage in an argument he takes that opportunity and is whiny, immature, and unrealistic about the situation. â€Å"If you don’ want me I can go off in the hills an’ find a cave. I can go away any time.† George, on the other hand, is very mature, and although he gets angry and frustrated with Lennie sometimes, he always ends up feeling sorry that he was mean, and apologizes sadly. â€Å"I been mean, ain’t I?† George and Lennie are very close friends, they travel together, they stick together, and they look after each other. George and Lennie have a dream, one that they’ve had for apparently quite some time. George and Lennie want to own and live in a little house of their own, with animals and vegetables and fires for the winter. They want to have their dream house, a place where they can live on their own, without worrying about anyone or anything. Steinbeck creates a setting of this dream which is used as motivation for George and Lennie but more specifically for George to keep Lennie safe. The dream links with the American Dream, what they aspire is only a microcosm of the American Dream. The whole setting of the dream is so minimal that is really nothing like the American Dream.

Film Review: Sleepless In Seattle Essay

When Hollywood makes a movie about a spouse who has lost a significant other, the story usually evolves around the wife. How she deals with the loss, the grief, her support group and how she manages to get her life back on track for the sake of her children and herself. But Sleepless In Seattle is a totally different kind of widower movie. The movie released in 1993 was helmed by Nora Ephron from a story by Jeff Arch, the movie casts a pre Oscar winner Tom Hanks as the widower Sam Baldwin who is learning to cope with the loss of his wife, raising his son Jonah ( as portrayed by Ross Malinger) alone and helping the child to adjust to life without his mother, as well as trying to get his own personal life back on track. The movie is based upon the old plot of a grieving widow who needs to get on with life. Its plotline centers on the little known truth that men also grieve when their spouse is taken away from him by illness and death. Tom Hanks is highly effective as the spouse who is so deeply affected by his wife’s death that he practically places his life on hold except for the basic things that he needs to do such as raise his son and earn a living. Although his friends and family rallied to his side upon the death of his wife either by attending the funeral, being more active and present in his and his child’s life, even going as far as to refer him to support groups and psychiatrists in order to help him deal with his loss, Sam still feels alone and keeps his grief to himself. For him, the best solution seemed to be to move to another place and try to start life anew. He chooses to be alone with his memories of his wife and deal with his grief privately and alone, but his son has other ideas. Little Jonah has decided that his dad has grieved enough (it has been a year since his mother died) and his dad needs serious help. So one night, the boy sneaks a phone call to a radio psychologist and relates the personal turmoil of his father. The doctor then asks to speak to his father in order to help him and advise him about how to let go of the memory of his wife and move on with life. The doctor gives him the handle Sleepless in Seattle while advising him to move on with his life because his son now believes that he needs a wife to care for them. The movie dealt with the reality that the death of a spouse is not easy for the widowed husband or wife. The remaining spouse has to accept the reality that the life he once had with his wife, that which made him feel happy and complete has come to an abrupt end. In her personal blog, a woman who simply goes by the name Sara indicated that men deal with the loss of the wife in a different manner because widows â€Å"tend to lose their social networks since their wives the family ‘kinkeepers. ’ According to the article Good Grief: Bouncing Back From a Spouse’s Death in Late Life, Deborah Carr indicates that certain personal and social factors should be considered when helping the widower move on with his life. 1 Sara makes references to this article in her blog wherein she argues that (as cited in Carr, 2007 ) â€Å"the age of the husband and wife, how the spouse died, and what the couple’s life was like prior to the death are the most important factors that influence spousal bereavement. † In the movie, Sam embodies this personal turmoil by refusing to go on with his life and continuing to mourn her death one year later. Instead of accepting the death of his wife and moving on, he wallows on the what if’s of their married life. Socially husbands tend to grieve for a longer period of time because of the way his wife becomes the crutch of his life. He does not know how to move on without his wife because of his emotional need to hold on to the past memories of his wife. Sam Baldwin solidly illustrates how a man is lost without his wife. Without her, he lost his desire to dream and achieve more in life because his muse has passed on. He chooses to just live day to day with the hope that eventually, he will stop hurting emotionally. In reality, a man who loses his wife has a tendency to lose his place in the social circles because it was the duty of the wife to set the family social calendar. Sam Baldwin also showed us the difficulty of having to raise a child in a single parent environment where the grieving and closure process has not been completed. Widowed men also have to deal with the reality that he is now in charge of the household and has to portray the role of mother, wife, father, and financial provider all at the same time. Although considered to be a lightweight romantic comedy, Sleepless in Seattle gives us a realistic look into the life of a grieving husband. The situations portrayed in the movie do happen to male widows in real life. Due to the loss of the wife, the husband can experience a rollercoaster of emotions. . 2 According to the website planet-therapy. com, in its section regarding Grief: Living with the death of a partner, a grieving widow experiences a gamut of emotions ranging from â€Å"feelings of sadness, despair, emptiness, anger and guilt, restlessness and sleep problems, and a sense of inadequacy and concerns about health and well-being. † In the movie, as Sam Baldwin speaks to the psychologist over the radio, he shares the same list of his grieving experiences with the listeners. Today’s modern society tends to be more helpful of a spouse who has lost his or her partner through death rather than divorce. Mainly because it is harder for a spouse to get over the death of a spouse rather than what is usually a nasty divorce proceeding. The grieving widow needs more reassurance in life because, if a spouse is lost due to illness, such as the case with Sam Baldwin, his life will effectively be placed on hold until the death of the spouse which will then leave the husband or wife as a socially disconnected entity who will need to rebuild the personality he once had. Society accepts that it is easier for a divorcee to move on with life. Therefore there is no real need to be an emotional crutch to this person because he or she will want to celebrate the newly gained freedom. In the case of a widower, the death of the spouse usually becomes a traumatic experience wherein the living spouse become uncertain about how to socialize with people and get on with his life. Sometimes, the widow even goes so far as to consider himself or herself a jinx and vows never to remarry. Between the two, the widows need more reassurance and push towards reclaiming the life he once had or could have once the grief is conquered. This is why in the movie, Sam’s friends rally to his side and help him deal with his reentrance into the social circle. From dating advise, to sexual advice, this is the support group that helped Sam realize that he can let go of his wife’s memory without dishonoring the same. In reality, a widow tends to continue to speak with the deceased spouse long after death and fiercely holds on to the memory of the deceased even to the point of continuing with their old traditions even if he or she must do it alone. But in the case of Sam, he voluntarily reactivates his social life in an effort to get over his grief and possibly find a mother for his son who needs female guidance as well. In the movie, Sam chooses to eventually go on with his life after the radio consultation causes an influx of postal mail from various single women across the land pour into his home. This is where the story reaches its complicated plot line. Sam does not show any interest in the mail he receives because he is the kind of man who believes in the old fashioned dating game. He has a few bad dates before finally settling on one woman whom he considers a potential candidate for the role of wife and mother in his family. The problem is that Jonah believes more in fate and makes his choice on the basis of a letter from Annie Reed. A hopeless romantic whose favorite movie is A Love Affair. Incidentally, A Love Affair plays a pivotal part in the movie as it is used as the reference for the final, climactic scene at the Empire State Building. Although the movie is well crafted and has a good script, I am deeply disturbed with the way the characters of Jonah Baldwin and his friend Jessica were portrayed. With a maturity beyond their ages, and an unbelievably good grasp of adult issues, it is quite disconcerting to watch these two kids work their way around adults to the point of using emotional blackmail to get the parent to do as the child wants. I am willing to accept that Sam and Annie were meant to be together. But the way they got together is one that would drive a parent to the brink of worry and insanity while totally rejecting any positive outcomes such a scenario may present to all the parties concerned. Had this movie really been based on reality, I sincerely doubt that Sam would have dropped everything and hopped on a plane for New York to find the errant child. In reality, the parent would be on the telephone with the police trying to coordinate a cross country search since nobody is really sure as to where the child would end up in a city as huge as New York and how. The fact that the child was not punished but instead cuddled in the end by the worried father delivers a bad message as far as I am concerned. To me, it says â€Å"Hey, dad does not want to do what I want. I will run away from home. â€Å" We all know how that scenario would have really ended n reality and therefore should have not have been included in the movie. The movie can be considered a chick flick because it caters to the romantic notions held dearly by women while the men are considered clueless most of the time. When not being regarded as the unbelievably gullible opposite sex. The movie asks us to suspend disbelief for over an hour as we wait to discover if these two people will finally meet and how will that meeting end? The references to the primitive internet of the time was a wonderful throwback to an era when America was still discovering what things could be done online. Basically a well executed movie, Sleepless in Seattle is a movie made for those who believe that fate and karma will bring love your way even if you have lost hope. I do find it hard to believe though, that two people who do not meet until the very end of the movie and shared no more than a minute glance at each other in the middle of the movie will have an ever after ending. Footnotes 1 See Sara’s blog section number 13entitled Relating to Family Transitions (2007) for the full content of the article Good Grief: Bouncing Back From A Spouse’s Death in Late Life by Deborah Carr 2 See planet-therapy. com (2007) specially the sections relating to grief and loss, death of a partner, solutions for people who lose a partner, and possibilities for change after the death of a partner. Work Cited Foster Gary (Producer). Ephron, Nora (Director). (1993). Sleepless in Seattle [Motion Picture]. United States: TriStar Pictures. Planet Therapy. (n. d. ). Grief and Loss. Retrieved 21 August 2007 from http://planet-therapy. com/pub/gen_problems/grief/grief-2. html. Sara. (2007, April 26). Family Transitions [Blog 13]. Message posted to http://quicksa. blogspot. com/